Tale of Two Lives
by Furyan
Summary: Serena wants Riddick, but he is gone. (Bad at summaries) New chapter up. R
1. Meeting

Tale of two Lives

Chapter One: Meeting

**This story takes place after _Pitch Black _but before _Chronicles of Riddick_. Also, Riddick belongs to the creators of the characters, as does the place named New Mecca. The only character belonding to me is Serena.**

Riddick looked down the dimly-lit, suburban street and calculated his odds of making it to the other side alive. It didn't look good, especially knowing that cops were patrolling all the major intersections in the whole area. He knew that his only other viable option was to break into one of the closest houses and take his chances with the owners. Out of pure practicality he chose the one where the lights were off already, only two houses away from where he crouched beside a garbage can.

He made a run for it, barely escaping the notice of a sleepy policeman at the corner. Jumping over the backyard fence, he entered the house through the backdoor, which was unlocked. No one in the sleepy, little town so far removed from New Mecca bothered to lock their doors, and it suited him just fine. After stepping inside, he looked about the meager living room and thought to himself, _just one person lives here._

The one person turned out to be a woman in her early twenties with long, copper hair and blue eyes who was staring at him from the staircase. She seemed more curious than afraid, and indeed, she carried no weapon, save her 'recorder. Riddick almost groaned and extended his hand in a clear gesture, wanting the small, metal device.

"You gonna kill me?" the woman asked, bathrobe shimmering in the dim light of the moon.

"If you don't give it to me," Riddick said calmly, as if he was asking to use the phone. "Now."

The woman threw the small machine at him but continued staring as if she couldn't get enough of his hard face, the muscles on his chest, the short hair. In truth, she was fascinated and stunned at the same time by the appearance of a man her dreams could only whisper about. Suddenly, those muscled rippled, and a moment later Riddick stood in a dark corner, away from the front windows, eyes watering from the sudden light.

"Damn it!" the woman exclaimed. "The bloody bastards can't even conduct a search without waking the whole neighborhood. What the hell do we pay them for?"

The convict didn't bother answering that rhetorical question. "What's your name, then?"

"Serena," she replied promptly. "And you're Richard B. Riddick, a known criminal and murderer. Your name and face were all over the news a few weeks back; they claimed you were some fucking hero."

Riddick managed a half-hearted wince. "Tell anyone about me, and I will kill you. If the cops come searching, let them in."

Serena realized that she wasn't about to die, and more importantly that such a total hunk was now residing in her household. After closing the blinds on all the windows in the house, the copper-haired woman made them both some hot chocolate and even warmed up some pasta for her guest. He'd taken a shower in the meantime and dressed in her brother's old clothes, amazed that the pants and shoes fit so well.

Sitting beside the kitchen counter, he held the cup in both arms, comforted by its warmth. "Are you a reporter?"

Nodding, Serena took a seat across from him. "Yeah, did an article on you, among other things. You wouldn't believe some of the shit I dug—oh wait, you would!"

"I don't remember," was the man's only reply, said between bites of pasta.

The woman nearly fell off her chair. "Well, damn! That's so…unexpected! You want the basics, childhood, all that crap?"

Riddick shook his head and said softly, "No. It's done now, and that's the end of it."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, followed by loud pounding and voices. When Serena glanced at Riddick's seat, she found it empty and, sighing, made her way to the door. Two cops, dressed in their turbans and uniforms, waited at her doorstep.

"What you want?" she asked, looking sleepy. "It's freaking two in the morning!"

The shorter of the two men made some crack of an apology. "Sorry, ma'am, but we're looking for a dangerous criminal. Loves knives."

"Well, he isn't here. Turn off those goddamn lights, too, before someone makes a deal about all the bright lights," she said, her hand on the door. "We don't welcome cops here."


	2. Caught

Tale of Two Lives

Chapter two: Caught

At a quarter past six in the morning, Serena opened her eyes and dragged her tired body out of bed and into the bathroom. She was tired, and her auburn hair was standing on end. In the background, she could easily hear Riddick moving about in the guestroom, obviously more awake than she was.

With a sigh, she took a shower and got dressed for work, as she had every day for the past three years. By the time she came downstairs, the man was standing by the wall in the living room and watching the news, probably waiting for the cops to leave the area. He was still dressed in her brother's stuff, but now he had shaved his head, and the look really fit him somehow. A part of Serena wanted this stranger to remain while another part couldn't wait to see him gone.

"Sleep well?" she asked noncommittally as she plodded into the kitchen, barely stifling a yawn.

Riddick looked up with that empty face of his. "Who's Tristan?"

Serena was blushing, but managed not to look totally undignified. "No one you need to know about. And how the hell did you hear that name, anyway?"

The response was plain enough. "You sleep loud."

"He was my boyfriend," she said by way of explanation. "Went off to help fight some disease and died of it before they could find a cure."

Serena gave up being nice at that point, feeling dumb for telling him all that, and started making breakfast, unconcerned with her generally nasty mood. No one since Tristan had anyone been able to ruffle her feathers quite like this, and she wanted to keep it that way. Riddick didn't seem concerned with eating, so she made breakfast only for herself. As she sat there, drinking her coffee, the man turned off the TV and took a seat at the table next to her.

"By the time you come back tonight, I'll be gone," he said quietly. "Mention my presence to anyone, and I will come after you."

It was that simple, but not to Serena, not with her feelings confused half to hell. She wanted to ask him to stay and to push him out the door and to have wild sex with him all at once, and it just wasn't working out. Angry with herself, the usually quiet woman stood up and put her empty cup into the sink.

"Fine, leave, see if I care!" She fumed.

Riddick laughed, a harsh sound, and touched his shaved head. By then, the doorbell had rung and Serena hurried out the door to meet her friend, Riddick never far from her thoughts. When she was gone, the convict found an empty bag, stuffed his old clothes in it, pulled his goggles on over his eyes, and went into the backyard. It was still early, but already the sun had come out, and without those goggles, he'd be blind.

The mercenary waiting just around the corner knew that as well. As soon as he turned, knife in hand, the man reached forward and grabbed Riddick's goggles, pulling them up over his head. The convict broke his hand right than, but it didn't matter because he wasn't alone and their prey was blind as any mole. One of the crew drugged him with a dart and they loaded him, in chains, into their van.

Serena never saw any of it.

Later that night, she got home to find Riddick gone and her world seemingly back to normal. Locating the remote, she flipped on the TV, expecting more threats, maybe even the results of latest council meeting. Instead, she watched a man beat her ex-guest.

The anchor explained, "Riddick was caught today leaving the home of a reporter whom he held hostage during the night. The woman is fine at this time. He will be transported to a maximum security prison tonight. Everything is expected to go as planned."

"And I can fly," Serena muttered to herself, looking out the window. "Well, I didn't tell on you…" A single tear fell down her cheek as she made her way outside. Riddick's goggles still lay in the grass of her backyard. She picked them up and looked at them for a while, then sighed and went back inside.

Returning them to their owner was the least of her problems, it seemed.


End file.
